When I couldn’t take my scheduled flight to Paris this week due to the volcanic ash issue, I did the next best thing – searched for French-style macarons in San Francisco. 

A macaron (not to be confused with the wonderful coconut macaroon that I adore, as well) is a French sandwich cookie that has a flavored filling in the center.  The cookie itself is made from ground almonds, egg whites and sugar.  It is crispy on the very outside and light and chewy within.  Fillings can range from silky chocolate or vanilla to tangy fruit ganaches. 

After trying three different French-style bakeries in the city, I decided that my favorite macarons come from a shop that focuses specifically on macarons – Paulette on Hayes Street.  The macarons from Paulette were just the right texture – lightly crisp and chewy.  Some of the ones that I tried from other bakers were almost gummy.  Paulette had 16 flavors and I am not embarrassed to say that I tried a number of them.   The fillings were intense – you could really taste them.  My favorite flavors were the passion fruit, caramel, toasted coconut, lemon and Jamaican chocolate.  The passion fruit and the lemon fillings really had a nice “punch” to them.  These macarons reminded me of the ones that I get at Laduree in Paris. 

Paulette SF is located at 437 Hayes Street in San Francisco.

I am always looking for new food adventures, and I had many great ones throughout the year.  Here is a list of my top 10 food or food-related discoveries of 2009 (in no particular order):

(1) the red pepper velvet cake at Dirt Candy in NYC
(2) the skillet bacon jam from Skillet Street Food in Seattle
(3) the pechiole al tartufo (truffled wild peaches) from Conti Foods in Florence, Italy
(4) the professional cheese knife from Claudine Vigier of La Fromagerie du Comtat in Provence
(5) the amazing tasting menu and setting at La Petraia, a restored working organic farm and agriturismo in Tuscany
(6) the chilaquiles from Primavera at the Saturday morning SF Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
(7) Cibreo Restaurant in Florence, Italy
(8) The Nibble Bar from Askinosie chocolate, made in Springfield, Missouri using cacao beans from Ecuador
(9) the brussels sprout salad at Bottega Restaurant in Napa Valley
(10) three crushed dried chili peppers from Whole Spice in Oxbow Market in Napa – chili aleppo, chili marash and chili urfa

One of my favorite restaurants these days is not a sit-down restaurant at all but an outstanding food purveyor at the Saturday San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.  I can hardly wait to get to the market to see what tasty creations Primavera has come up with. 

My favorite dish on their short menu is their chilaquiles – fresh, fluffy scrambled eggs with refried beans, thick, crisp tortilla chips topped with wonderful sauces (sometimes red, sometimes green), sliced avocado, onions and sour cream.  This is pure heaven on a Saturday morning!  I love their tamales as well – especially the chicken tamales with the mole sauce, and the ones with corn (or squash) and green chile peppers.  Oh, and the ones with pumpkin and white cheddar, as well.  Their pulled pork tacos are delightful, as are their masa cakes with black beans.  And their agua fresca combinations could not be fresher - pineapple-cucumber and strawberry-lime are especially flavorful. 

The lines are always long, but it is so worth the wait! 

You can also get a number of their selections to go at their stall next door – fresh tortillas, guacamole, tamales and a variety of salsas and sauces. Some of their products, like the tamales, can also be found in retailers such as Whole Foods.  

Primavera sources their products locally and uses a number of organic ingredients in their dishes.  Their pork and beef come from Niman Ranch and many of their vegetables are sourced from the farmers market.  Karen Waikiki started Primavera in 1991 after working as the chef at a Mexican restaurant in Sonoma. 

Primavera is located on the back side of the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturday mornings only. 

San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
One Ferry Building (on The Embarcadero)
San Francisco, CA  94114

My husband recently took me to dinner at CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen in San Francisco. CAV started out as a wine bar but has developed into both a wine bar and a noted kitchen. The concept behind the food is that the menu revolves around the wine list, which contains about 250 wines from around the world.

I liked the casual feel of CAV. There is a dining room in the back but we sat in the front bar area. The staff was super friendly and helpful, making suggestions and giving us their opinions on the food and the wines.

Chef Michael Lamina’s menu consists of small plates and large plates, as well as a wonderful assortment of French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and American cheeses. And, of course, desserts!

We tried several things on the menu – the Lobster Pot-au-Feu, the Truffled Leek Terrine with Crispy Pig’s Ear and Wood Mushroom Salad, the English Pea Ravioli with Mushroom Veloute, Fresh Peas and Chanterelles and the Sweet Potato Frites with Tomato Jam. The Lobster Pot-au-Feu was outstanding – chunks of lobster and peas in a deep, rich lobster stock. The crispy pig’s ear really made the Truffled Leek Terrine dish, but we felt that the ravioli was slightly undercooked (and we like our pasta al dente). The Tomato Jam was outstanding – filled with cloves and spices. We each had a glass of 2001 Francois Jobard Chardonnay from Burgundy.

We ordered a cheese course with three cheeses – Abbaye de Citeaux (a washed rind cow’s milk cheese from Burgundy), Azeitao (a sheep’s milk cheese from the Arrabida Mountains of Portugal) and Azul de Valdeon (a cow and goat’s milk blue cheese from Spain, wrapped in a chestnut leaf). With the cheeses, we had a glass of 2005 Pietri-Geraud Banyuls Blanc.

For dessert, we had Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies and a glass of 1989 L’Etoile Banyuls Grand Cru Reserve.

Overall, we really enjoyed the food, the wines, the atmosphere and the staff.   

CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen
1666 Market Street
San Francisco, CA
(415) 437-1770
cavwinebar.com

For my husband’s birthday, I took him to The Monk’s Kettle in San Francisco.  My husband is a beer fan and I had heard about this new restaurant that pairs beer and local, seasonal foods.  When we walked into The Monk’s Kettle, we were greeted warmly and seated at a small table across from the bar.  The restaurant is small and cozy with a very nice bar – carved wood with lots of character and charm.  The beer menu was EXTENSIVE, to say the least.  We are no strangers to beer and we had not heard of more than a fraction of the choices. 

We started out with a salad of mixed greens, pears, Humboldt Fog goat cheese and slivered almonds with a maple vinaigrette dressing.  We ordered a side order of frites with chipotle ketchup and also a black bean cake with salsa and creme fraiche.  We chose a Radeberger Pilsner from Germany to go along with this “course”.  It was very good. 

Next we ordered Niman Ranch pulled pork with housemade barbeque sauce.  This was served on a bun with jicama slaw.  Our choice for this pairing was a coffee porter from Meantime Brewing in London.  It was full-bodied and quite interesting.  The pairing was good.  I am glad that I tried the coffee porter,  but I am not sure that I would want it again. 

We finished off our meal with their blueberry cobbler and a double-chocolate stout from Young & Co. Brewery in London.  Nice and rich! 

It was a very fun evening and a change of pace from food and wine pairings.  We will go back to The Monk’s Kettle. 

The Monk’s Kettle
3141 16th Street
San Francisco, CA  94103
www.themonkskettle.com

My friend Agnes and I met for breakfast at Zazie in the Cole Valley neighborhood of San Francsico.  I really like the bohemian-style atmosphere of the place.  The staff was very friendly, too.

It was difficult to decide what to order – everything sounded great.  And we were happy to find that we could order small, medium-sized or large portions of several of the items on the menu.  So, of course, we decided to try a few things.  My favorites were the ginger pancakes with the pear compote and lemon curd and the bread pudding pancakes.  Wow!  Can’t wait to go back!

Zazie
941 Cole Street
San Francisco, CA  94117
415-564-5332
http://www.zaziesf.com/

My friend Agnes recently took me to Savor in the Noe Valley area of San Francisco for breakfast. It was delightful.  First of all, the staff was so warm and friendly.  I felt as if I was visiting old friends.  The menu was excellent, too – filled with breakfast goodies such as crepes and a variety of pancakes.  Agnes and I had to try their jalepeno corn bread, even though we had ordered eggs and pancakes.  The corn bread was so delicious, as were the other dishes.  I will definitely go back again. 

Savor
3913 24th St
San Francisco 94114

I just had dinner with a friend of mine at Nopa Restaurant in San Francisco. My first observation about the restaurant was that the host was very friendly and made casual conversation with us while he was seating us. Once seated, I looked around the restaurant. I really liked the long bar. I noticed that there were several people dining there. It looked like a nice environment for single dining. There was a long communal dining table for walk-ins, as well. Several groups were using it and seemed quite happy.

I took a glance at the wine list but didn’t really recognize many of the wines there. There were selections from Spain, Portugal, Italy and France, as well as California and Oregon. We tried a half bottle of their Domaine Serene “Cote Sud” 2004 Willamette Valley chardonnay. It was excellent (and the perfect temperature for chardonnay).

Next we looked at the menu. The selections looked fantastic. I really love a restaurant that serves fresh beans (such as scarlet runner and cranberry beans), and there were several choices on the Nopa menu. We started with the Flatbread with Spicy Fennel Sausage, Gypsy Peppers and Roasted Corn, along with their Wood-baked Scarlet Runner Beans with Feta and Breadcrumbs. Next my friend had the Roasted Wild King Salmon with Succotash, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil Butter. I really wanted just vegetables so ordered three sides: Fresh Cranberry Beans and Wilted Escarole, Grilled Broccoli with Anchovy-Lemon Vinaigrette and Succotash, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil Butter. Every dish was absolutely delicious and quite generous in size. We were so full from the large portions that we decided to skip dessert (although my peek at the dessert menu did make my mouth water).

My only real complain with this restaurant was that the service was pretty slow. The wait staff was very friendly and helpful, but they seemed a bit overworked. I don’t like to rush through dinner by any means but this 2-course dinner took almost 2 1/2 hours to complete.

However, I still look forward to going back there to check out their autumn menu!

Nopa Restaurant
560 Divisadero@Hayes
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 864-8643
http://www.nopasf.com/

I recently met a few friends down in San Jose for a casual brunch on a Saturday morning. We walked from my friend Kim’s house over to one of her neighborhood cafes, Naglee Park Garage. I fell in love with it at first sight! The building is a charming old brick converted garage surrounded by beautiful flowers. Co-owner/chef, Louis Silva, was there and was very friendly.

The Saturday morning breakfast menu was just fantastic – we had a difficult time choosing so we ordered several different things. We had French Toast (which was really more of a yummy bread pudding) with whipped cream and maple syrup, Breakfast Casserole (baked eggs, rotisserie chicken, potatoes and three cheeses), Bacon & Spinach Egg Lasagne (layered eggs, spinach, baco, mushrooms & swiss cheese) and Eggs Naglee (Tri tip hash, poached eggs & cracked peppercorn hollandaise sauce). Each dish was served with a choice of potatoes or fruit. Everything was good, but my favorites (and the favorites of the group) were the Bacon & Spinach Egg Lasagne and the Egg Naglee. These dishes were very flavorful and all were beautifully presented.

Naglee Park Garage also serves lunch and dinner. I didn’t see a lunch menu, but the dinner menu looked fantastic. Some of the seasonal dishes were: Maple Syrup Lacquered Chicken, Spice-rubbed Pork Ribs, Peppercorn-crusted Tri Tip, Mustard-rubbed Leg of Lamb, Herb-crusted Rainbow Trout, Cocoa Braised Beef Stew, Spinach salad with Roasted Squash, Raisins, Pecans, Pickled Onion & Maple Syrup Vinaigrette, Roasted Beet Salad with Apples, Coleslaw, Almonds and Bib Lettuce, Sweet Potato Home Fries, Butternut Squash Gratan, Brussels Sprouts with Sage & Bacon and Macaroni & Cheese.

Naglee Park Garage also has live music two Thursday nights per month and one Saturday during brunch. They have Cinema night each 4th Saturday.

Naglee Park Garage
505 East San Carlos Street (at 11th)
San Jose, CA
408-286-1100
http://www.nagleeparkgarage.com

I recently met my friend Norm for lunch at Zuppa Restaurant in San Francisco. I loved the atmosphere of this place from the time I opened the door. The rustic walls, the gorgeous windows, the wood burning oven all contribute to the overall feel of this casual but elegant restaurant. And the staff could not have been friendlier.

We started with a plate of assorted antipasti – fresh housemade mozzarella cheese, roasted peppers, roasted beets and eggplant. Then we moved on to their fresh pizza of wild mushrooms topped with baby spinach. Delicious!

We finished it all off with a tasty panna cotta for dessert.

I look forward to returning to this restaurant again soon.

The entry to Zuppa is from an alley off 4th Street between Bryant and Brannon.

Zuppa
564 4th Street
San Francisco, CA
415-777-5900
www.zuppa-sf.com